1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to refrigerators, and more particularly to an improvement in the structure for supplying cold air in such refrigerators.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has recently been provided a refrigerator including a cold air guide member for desirably diffusing into a cold storage compartment cold air supplied from a blowout duct. In one of such refrigerators, a partition wall is provided for partitioning a cold storage compartment and an evaporator compartment provided at one side of the cold storage compartment. The partition wall has cold air blowout holes in an upper portion thereof and inlets in a lower portion thereof. A square cylindrical cold air guide duct is provided on a ceiling of the cold storage compartment. The guide duct has a side opening located to correspond to the blowout holes so that cold air supplied from the blowout holes is taken into the guide duct.
The guide duct has in a front and backside outlets through which the cold air is supplied into the entire cold storage compartment. After having cooled food in the cold storage compartment, the cold air is circulated through the inlets of the partition wall into the evaporator compartment. In this structure, even when the cold storage compartment is stuffed with food, the cold air guide duct ensures a space for circulation of cold air in the cold storage compartment, so that the cold air can reliably be diffused into the entire cold storage compartment.
However, the conventional refrigerators of the above-described type have the following problems. First, the cold air guide duct has a large size and a complicated structure. As a result, a manufacturing cost of the guide duct is increased and a work for mounting the guide duct is troublesome. Second, since the guide duct has a front panel rising vertically, the user often strikes his or her hand against the front panel when groping for food in the cold storage compartment, for example. Third, the cold air is positively supplied through the outlets formed in the front panel. Accordingly, the cold air is likely to leak out of the refrigerator when a door is opened.